Central Commercial High School - Hour Glass Yearbook (New York, NY)

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would have A1r Raids When these occurred we spent hours in the cellar and at 6 o clock we had to get up for breakfast and then go to work I had reached school age now and I had to attend school In school the children were unfriendly towards me Often they would call me not by my name just Hey Russian I used to come home in tears and Mom always told me to be proud of my home and never to be sorry that I was born in Russia Russia was a wonderful country until communism ruined It She said I should forgive all this because it was the wars fault that made people dis trust and carry hatred for each other People who had not seen anything bad or experienced it durmv their lifetime d1d not understand what other people had gone through to be free Easter 1945 News had reached us that the war was over Dad was not with us at this time He had been taken away and we had not heard from him for the past eight months Before gomg to bed each night we used to say our prayers Mom prayed that God would give her the strength to l1ve through all this and that He would take care of our Dad and return him safely to us One month after the war was over my Dad returned home We still lived in the camp but Mom did not work anymore She was always with us At the beglnnmg we did not leave the camp because we feared the Americans The manager told us that they were mean to our people This was untrue When the American soldiers came they used to g1ve candy to the children which the children had not seen during the war or before But agam we had something to fear Russian Commissioners were telling our people to go back to Russia Some wanted to go back many others were taken by force and others ran away into the woods to hide We too ran away and for two weeks we llV6d in the woods with ram cold and hunger needed it most everything quleted down After we left the camp Dad went to work for the Americans They gave us a place to live and we were well on our way towards living like people We lived in a little town Away from all D P camps and only from rumors we heard how the Russian people were handled by the Russian Commis s1oners The Amerlcans took over all the camps and did not allow the Russian Commissioners to take the people back by force A time followed in which some people immigrated to America For a certain time only people living in the D P camps were to go there We wanted very much to go also but to live ln a camp again Mom said was out of the question Later we registered at the American Consul and we were offered a visa to Brazil or Venezuela but not to America We refused th1s visa because Mom had a bad heart and the heat in these countries would not do her any good We waited until we could get a visa to America The long awaited day came We received a letter from the American Consul to get our papers ready for the examlnatlons We were very happy and followed the instructions according to the letter After six months we were called out Everything went well but we still did not know whether or not we would receive a visa We waited with patience until the happy day Two weeks after receiving our visa we would be on our way to the U S We started packmg What we were unable to take with us we sold We were fearful agam but not the way we had been before because now we were gomg to a new land to build a new home And truly we are very happy here and more happiness we would not find elsewhere Valentina Kalmbach 27 ' 7 7 9 ' , . ' 9 , . 5 ' 9 5 We traded our last pieces of clothing for a piece of bread and then, when we , . , . . . . , , 7 3 7 , . 9 7

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Search or Tomorrvw KflWOlfOCh Ukrame the 21st of October ln the year of 1943 was a place for tears and partmg from frlends and relatlves Mom was busy w1th her housework and my stster and I l1ke children were playlng wlthout any worrles All at once there was H0156 about us Dad came home from work earller than usual and brought bad news We were to leave our house lmmedlately and go away because our home was near the frontler and l1v1ng there would put us 1n great danger My slster and I drd not understand why we had to leave our home but we were happy to be able to take a rlde Not knowmg where and why d1d not mterest us but mom and dad were worrled Packmg was started the house became dlsorderly and everybody was 1n a rush After some trme slxteen persons were loaded 1nto a truck and we were on our way for two weeks not stoppmg very often and always at mght How long th1s rlde would last we d1d not know When we asked our parents when lt would end they would tell us soon Where we would end up nobody knew One day we stopped ln a llttle town far away from our home We were quartered m a b1g hall of a school The hall was cold and filled with hay Eight famllles 0CCUp1Cd th1s hall Everyone of us took a corner 1n the hall some hay and th1s was our home for the tlme bemg We drd not know how long we would lrve th1s way but by now we understood that we had lost our home On the 14th of November we were agam traveling th1s tlme by tram for the followlng two weeks On the 29th of November durmg the mght we were awakened by a sudden halt of our tram Everybody rushed to see the reason for th1s stop and then we heard some nolse from the outslde We were ordered off the tram by the manager of a camp at whnch the tram had stopped On the several stops we had made before other people had told us that rf we got 1nto Germany our famllxes would be broken up Now when the manager told us that the women and chlldren should go 1ns1de the camp and the men should stay ln the tram we felt the rumors we had heard were cor rect Nobody had thought that we would get lnto Germany but we were rrght ln the heart of Germany We had been told to leave town for a short tlme untxl the danger of the frontler was over but everythmg turned out driferently We were brought 1nto Germany and quartered m a camp The camp was a Catholrc SISICTS Kloster Before the war th1s was a school for tallorlng They gave us one room It was tremendous In th1s room elghty people had to settle down chlldren women and men together Only now everybody understood clearly what lt meant to have lost hls motherland Llfe 1n the camp was the same day ln and day out Dad worked far away from the camp and came home only on Sundays Mom worked here ln the Kloster and my slster and I went to the Kmdergarten here at the camp We saw Mom only at lunch and 1n the evemng when she came home from work tlred dlrty and hungry Then we would go together to supper After supper everybody drd what he wanted to do untll 10 o clock when the llghts had to be turned off We were never able to sleep long because durmg the mght we 26 w 9 9 1 1 a s a - 9 ' 9 ' 9 9 9 , . , . ' 44 as v - 9 ' 9 , . 9 9 a , . 3 s , - ' 7 , . . . , . . . , . s 9 1 ' 1 , . , . 9 9 s 9 - s - . . , . 9 I . .

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he Unexpected Ann stopped to look rt the new e rmpargn poster on the wall of the thrrd floor h lllll IV Put Some Go Into Your C O Elect Tom Andrews rs G O Presrdent As she w rlked elow n the h 1ll tnere were strll more posters on the w rlls But Ann lelt eonlrdent th tt she would wrn the eleetron She w rs sure she eould count on wood sh rre ol the boys votes rnd she h rd eno wh vrrl lrrends to supply the rest Hr worveous I see you ve been lookrng rt the posters I-Iow do you lrke them' Ann turned rt the sound of Tom s voree They re re rlly beautrlul rnd what talent she sard sare rstrcally You know Ann thrs rs re rlly srlly I me rn rbout you md me runnrne awarnst eaeh other of rll people But I thrnk I rn Home to wrn thrs electron so why don t you qurt now rnstead of w tstrng your trme' By thrs trme Anns temper w1s rerehrng, the borlrnv pornt Th rt w rs very sweet ol you Tom your offer I mem but ld r rther stay on Just then the bell rrnv for the next el rss Well Tom I hope you don t feel too bad when you hear the results of the electron She walked aw ay and down the hall to her next class Whrle srttrng rn her seat Ann thouvht of Elsre Farrell the thrrd eandr date Nobody ever notreed Elsre She h 1d very few posters on the wrlls and wasnt very popul rr rmonv the students Ann thouvht rf mybody was w rstrnv her trme rt w rs Elsre When rt was trme for the electron both Ann 1nd Tom were glad rt was nearly over They had worked very hard competrnv avarnst each other Thev h rd not been speaklnv srnee therr meetrnv m the hallway and when Ann elrmbed the steps to the stave where Tom wrs rlready seated she passed hrm and sat down wrthout sayrnv a word Lrttle Elsre then walked up perched hr h on her seat wrth her feet barely touchmv the Hoor and looked at the students before her One by one the candrdates for other olhees filed onto the st we and took therr se tts Ann helrd md srw nothmv untrl her turn earne to speak She felt her 28 1 - 1 1 s1 1 I 1 11 I 4 - L C. . 1 11 I N 1. 1 1 ' c 4 . - . J, .. X . . L., . . X .. - ' 1 -1 rs - s 1 I 1-x 11-s - ' -x - - s -. . 1 L L . . - l .1 I1 s S 1 1 - 3 1 1' x X 3 s I 3 11 1 . x . X t . . e. . , s - 1 - L -x I 1 1 1 s.- 1 s L x L '- '-ls b . . . e . C b , s s- 'S . ' ' '11 I 3 3 1. 1 3 ' 1 ' 1 . 'X 1 C. C. -1. . Q . .. - 1 x - '1 l -m x 1'-s 1 1 1 1 K 1 1 1 L L ' ' ' . Q Ilf ' '. 1 - '- '1 1 1 -' 1. 1 1 1 , . ' 1 . . . 1. . . e e 1. - 1 1 1 1. C - 1 L . C 5 . . h V , . Y . Q 1 . 1 I . I . xl .. I . K. s 1 ' - l s '- s 11 1 - 1 . ' y 1 ' ' ' 1 11 , . e. e C 1 1 4. 1 - 1 s I 1 - 1 .1 , 1 1 . 1 1 L . L , . X 1 H L x u 1 -- . C, 4... 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 11 1 1 1 1 . . 1 C. . . - I l x l I I ' 1 - 4 1 - . L 1 . L . c 1: ' t 1: 1 ef .1 . . 1 1 . X . 1 ' . I Q . 1 e , ' t' C' ' ' 1 i B- 1 - 51 . 1 1 1 C' C' . . , C. . 1.. L , , . ., ' 1 1 ' -1 ' 1 1 . 11 , . C . . . 0 L1 1 . 1 C' C ' - 1 1 1 ' 1 , .' L.. ' .' 2 e 1. 2 fl ' C f ' '. ' X '